Beijing has disregarded American accusations {that a} downed Chinese balloon was once a part of an intensive surveillance program, pronouncing the feedback ammounted to “information warfare against China.”
This week the Pentagon mentioned the Chinese balloon shot down off the South Carolina coast Saturday was once a part of a program involving a variety of such airships that China has been working for “several years.”
At Thursday’s day by day briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning repeated China’s insistence that the massive unmanned balloon was once a civilian meteorological airship that had by accident blown off direction and that america had “overreacted” by shooting it down.
“It is irresponsible,” Mao mentioned at a day by day briefing. The newest accusations “could also be a part of america facet’s knowledge conflict towards China.”
China’s protection minister refused to take a telephone name from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to speak about the balloon factor on Saturday, the Pentagon mentioned, and China has no longer responded questions as to what executive division or corporate the balloon belonged to, or the way it deliberate to observe up on a pledge to take additional motion over the topic.
US officers have disregarded China’s claims and brokers from the FBI and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service are cataloguing particles recovered from the sea and transporting it for additional processing.
When equivalent balloons handed over American territory on 4 events all through the Trump and Biden administrations, america didn’t instantly establish them as Chinese surveillance balloons, consistent with the Pentagon — despite the fact that they had been later idenfified as Beijing property.
